FAQs

How does the three metal astrological bangle work?
In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda quotes his guru Sri Yukteswar:

“Electrical and magnetic radiations are ceaselessly circulating in the universe; they affect man’s body for good and ill.”

“Ages ago, our rishis pondered the problem of combating the adverse effects of subtle cosmic influences. The sages discovered that pure metals emit an astral light which is powerfully counteractive to negative pulls of the planets.”

“Through prayer, will power, yoga meditation, consultation with saints and use of astrological bangles, the adverse effects of past wrongs can be nullified or minimized.”

“Just as a house may be fitted with a copper rod to absorb the shock of lightning, so can the bodily temple be protected in certain ways.”

Swami Kriyananda has described the function of the bangle to be like a lens: sometimes filtering completely out, sometimes transmuting and sometimes only partially filtering. He also said, “The bangle is an important part of the spiritual path.”

Many people have found there to be a great difference in their personal energy when they wear the bangle versus when they didn’t. One person said that the bangle afforded him such protection that he needed to do the Energization Exercises three times a day to make up for not wearing the bangle (he had loaned it out to a friend). Another person had been going through a long test and only at the end had been able to afford a bangle. She was amazed to find a great increase in her personal energy, despite the crushing power of the test. Another woman noticed that her intuition increased when wearing the bangle. It is cases like these that lead me to believe that the bangle acts like an umbrella. Go to top

What metals are used in the bangle?The General Purpose astrological bangle is comprised of three metals: copper, silver and gold. Each metal used has a very precise weight and purity. The formula uses only pure silver, copper, and over a Troy ounce of 99.99%, 24kt, fine gold.

Copper—Latin ‘cuprum’, atomic symbol Cu. Copper is the most “earthy” of the three metals, and astrologically represents the body. Physically, it is the toughest and can withstand some abrasion and bending. It is very chemically reactive and for this reason is not easily found freely in nature. Copper may react with the wearer’s skin chemistry to produce green skin. The copper strand itself can actually wear away in 6 months’ time. The copper may turn color in the presence of some chemicals, soaps, foods, etc. It will return to its original color when cleaned and polished.

Silver—Latin ‘argentum’, atomic symbol Ag. Silver is more noble than copper and it astrologically represents the mind. Its purifying influence kills bacteria in both air and water, and its influence has a cooling effect on the body. Physically, silver is not as ductile or malleable as gold or copper—it will harden, crack and break if bent or worked too much. While not as chemically reactive as copper, silver will turn black in the presence of sulphur, i.e. eggs, hot springs, and some shampoos. Rarely found freely in nature, its reactivity causes it to combine with some other elements. You may notice over time that your silver begins to look somewhat tarnished. The silver will also return to it’s original color when cleaned and polished.

Gold—Latin ‘aurum’, atomic symbol Au. Gold is the most noble of all metals, and astrologically represents the soul. It enhances spirit and has a healing effect on the body. Very ductile and malleable, gold may be worked or bent a great deal before it cracks or breaks. Being very soft, however, gold is easily abraded or worn down. Almost unreactive, it is found freely in nature and does not tarnish. Go to top

Where do I wear the bangle?Swami Kriyananda recommends wearing it nearest the heart. The upper arm (just above the elbow) is best. I have tested this and my heart indeed did feel protected after having worn the bangle on my ankle for a year. We have tested the bangle’s effect on the size of the aura with dowsing rods. The largest aura comes from having the bangle on the upper arm. If wearing the bangle on the upper arm is uncomfortable for you, you may wish to wear it on your wrist.

The bangle must be worn in contact with the skin, to complete the electromagnetic circuit with the aura. It should be worn at all times, swimming, bathing, exercising, etc. If it’s not worn, it can’t protect you!

There has been a story circulating around for many years that women wear it on the left and men, on the right. However, I asked Swami Kriyananda about this, and his reply was, “The male and female energies do not apply to bangles, for the bangle is neutral. Where these energies are important is if a man and woman are teaching together, then the man should stand to the woman’s right. And for instance, when a married couple is sleeping together, the husband should sleep on the woman’s right, as when they are both lying face up.”

There may be exceptions to this rule, so if you wish, take the time to intuit your answer or perhaps dowse for your answer with either a pendulum or a pair of rods. Go to top

How do I properly fit the bangle to my arm or wrist?All new bangles are the same length (however some reconditioned or rebuilt bangles may be longer). Your own personal size and the location you will be wearing the bangle will determine how much you might need to bend the bangle to fit you properly.

When the bangle is new it is a bit softer and easier to bend. If the bangle is long for you or you are wearing the bangle around your wrist, be sure that the strands do not touch where they overlap. Our testing with the dowsing rods shows that the aura diminishes very much when the bangle touches itself. Many people have even felt a better energy if the bangle does not touch itself.

We do not recommend taking the bangle off and on frequently, as each time you open and close the bangle you are “work-hardening” the metal or making it more brittle and more likely to break (think about bending a wire coat hanger back and forth a few times – eventually the wire will break). It is safe to open and close it occasionally, but try to avoid making this a frequent habit if you want your bangle to last a long time. Go to top

Why is my bangle suddenly uncomfortable?If wearing the bangle is new to you: Initially the body may rebel against this new intruder, much as an unbroken horse reacts to a saddle. Be persistent, and creative. Move the bangle from arm to arm, and to wrist, if necessary. Bring it back to “home” position at night—the sleeping body is less sensitive then and will get used to it. It may take a week or so. It took me a month. My body hated the thing in the beginning. Most people say they do not even notice it after a few weeks.

If you have worn your bangle for a while and the bangle starts to irritate you this is either cleanliness or the astrological bangle doing its job. If you have skin irritation, itching, rash (or commonly small sores on the inside of your elbow area), it’s most likely cleanliness. This usually happens in hot weather which often affects diet, skin moisture, and body pH. Bacteria will be more prevalent during hot weather also. A toothbrush and dish soap will clean the strands, and a brief soak in methanol or isopropyl rubbing alcohol will sterilize it.

One way to relieve the sticky irritation of the bangle in hot weather and to really get it clean is to soak it in a bath of hydrogen peroxide for an hour. More on cleaning here.

Otherwise, if the bangle gets hot, cold or oddly uncomfortable, chances are it’s defending you against cosmic energies. Some symptoms can be flu-like or perhaps a smothering feeling. It may become quite hot. A pressure like manacles or handcuffs or even a fever might happen. Unfortunately, this is not the time to take it off. Move the bangle from place to place on the body, if the discomfort is extreme or incapacitating – but always consider what the bangle could be protecting you from.

If the bangle is really bothering you, remove it at night before going to bed. Clean it well, and place it on your altar for an hour. Often this is enough to stop the irritation. Go to top

What is the best way to clean my bangle?Darkness and discoloration of the strands is due to wearer’s skin chemistry and environment. The bangle is best cleaned in a jeweler’s pickling bath, as it is non-abrasive and won’t affect the delicate weight balance of the bangle that is necessary for its function. We recommend that you clean your bangle every few months, and have it annealed at least once a year. We can clean and anneal your bangle.

For the adventurous, you can try cleaning and annealing your bangle at home. However, please be careful not to heat it too much or you may permanently damage the strands making it difficult or impossible to repair. Clean and anneal it yourself. Go to top

What maintenance does my bangle require?The three difficulties facing bangles are: 1) dirt or discoloration; 2) stiffness and cracking; 3) thinness due to erosion by skin chemistry. Dirt and/or discoloration are not serious problems in themselves, however they do indicate a probable reaction with either the wearer’s skin chemistry or environment.

Stiffness promotes cracking and is due to the bangle’s flexing. If it’s not opened and squeezed shut a lot it won’t harden, get springy and crack. Many nearly invisible cracks will occur at once, so a break is simply the winning crack’s reward in the race through the strand. Often these cracks are not apparent to the naked eye. If the bangle gets springy we can anneal (soften) and clean (pickle) it to a bright new luster. Bangles need this from every three months to yearly; it depends again on the wearer. However, if any of the metal strands are cracking, you will need to repair or rebuild your bangle (see below).

Thinness is cured only by strand replacement—copper and silver usually are replaced together in a careful process saving the gold. Thinness means weight loss and does affect the bangle’s protective performance. Thinness is serious if it’s visually noticeable and can occur in one year or over many years, depending on the wearer and environment. I replace both the silver and the copper together when the copper is worn or broken as experience shows that the silver needs replacing by then.

Our current service schedule Cleaning and annealing usually requires a few days to a week. Repairing or rebuilding your bangle can take 1-3 weeks depending on my work and travel schedule (not including shipping / transit time). If your repair is urgent, or must be completed within a certain timeframe, please call our office and inquire as to when it would be best to send your bangle in for repair for optimum turn-around time. Rush orders (2-day turnaround) is sometimes available, but is an additional cost of $75. Go to top

What is the difference between a bangle repair and a bangle rebuild?Repairs consist of removing and replacing one or both of the silver or copper strands or welding a broken gold strand. If the gold strand is in good condition but either of the other strands is damaged or thin, a repair can be an affordable way to fix your bangle and may be all that is needed. Replacing the broken or thin strands is the only reliable method of repairing the bangle, and soldering or brazing will always crack again in a month or so.

When rebuilding the bangle we dismantle it, discard the silver and copper strands and rework the gold strand, adding more gold as needed to match the original formula and make the strand look good again. The rebuilt bangle is annealed, polished, looks almost exactly like new (read below about the slight difference in appearance between a rebuilt and new bangle), and all three metals of the bangle are sure to be at their specified weights as determined by Sri Yukteswar. The cost of rebuilding varies depending on the amount of gold that is needed to bring it to the correct weight.

If you wish to have your old copper and silver wires returned to you, you must tell us in advance and this will be an additional charge.

Is there a difference between a rebuilt bangle and new one?
Both new and rebuilt bangles offer the same protection. They will each have the correct amounts of copper, silver, and gold. The appearance of a rebuilt bangle is different, however, from a new one. Since the gold strand will then have been twisted, untwisted, straightened and re-twisted, it will have an “antiqued” or “crinkly” finish. Buffing this all away, of course, will mean loss of gold (therefore weight) so we leave the crinkly look alone. View the rebuilding process here. Some people like the antiqued look of the gold strand and so don’t mind the appearance of a rebuilt bangle. Go to top

Why is the bangle so expensive?We do our best to keep our bangle prices as low as possible given the current price of gold. Keep in mind that the bangle uses nearly 1.5 Troy ounces of pure, 24k gold, plus the pure silver and copper. The metals must be shaped into specific sized strands, and shaped correctly to maintain accuracy to Sri Yukteswar’s formula. The price of the bangle is affected by current world market gold prices. The labor cost is the smallest cost in building the bangles. Go to top

I have old gold jewelry (or gold coins or silver) that I don’t want. Can you use it for making my bangle?We may or may not be able to use your old gold jewelry in your bangle. First we must determine the purity of your metal and how much of it you have. Because the bangle formula uses pure 24k gold, any gold jewelry supplied will have to be sent out to be melted down and refined. Refining removes any alloys that may have been mixed with the gold. For instance 10-, 14-, and 18-carat gold all contain other alloys. A 10-carat gold ring contains 50% gold and 50% other metals. So if you were to supply us with one troy ounce of 10-carat gold jewelry, we would have much less than 1/2 ounce of 24k gold after refining. We will adjust the cost of the final bangle based on the amount of gold you supply (minus refining costs) against the amount we will need to supply

If your jewelry contains gemstones, we recommend you have the stones removed before sending in your gold. We cannot take responsibility for stones that will be lost during the refining process. Also there is a fee to have gold refined, so you would need a certain amount of gold to make this process cost-effective. We can give you more information about refining by phone or email. We generally do not take silver jewelry for use in the bangles. Go to top

Why do some bangles look different from mine?Over the years many people have been responsible for making and repairing the General-Purpose astrological bangle. For this reason, variations in how the bangle is twisted—tightly or loosely, and the appearance of the ends can differ greatly. The way Master had them made while he was still in the body is the method I use, and has the ends finished with one strand folded over into a loop. There is another method that leaves the ends covered with a ball, but this seems to me to be a deviation from the formula, as the bangles I repair with these ends often have inaccurate metal weights. See bangle variations in our gallery.

If the bangle has a gold strand that appears to have a crinkly or wrinkled appearance, it is only because the gold has been “recycled” during the re-building process. Go to top

Are there other types of astrological bangles?The Autobiography of a Yogi has chapters entitled “Outwitting the Stars” and “Sasi and the Three Sapphires”, where mention is made of the power of gems and metals to protect the wearer against cosmic influences. Sri Yukteswar devoted a great deal of effort to this science of protection. The lead and silver bangle he specified for Yogananda was specific only to Yogananda’s case at that time. The sapphire story was specific to that case as well.

Unfortunately, little or no record of Sri Yukteswar’s discoveries remain today. Except for the Navratna and the general-purpose astrological bangle, no other of his bangle formulae are existent. Then there are the little rings made of the three metals and twisted like the Bangle. These are “friendship rings” but do not have the power of the Bangle. Go to top

Yogananda’s heavy lead and silver bangle?The heavy lead and silver bangle mentioned by Sri Yogananda in Autobiography of a Yogi was specified by Sri Yukteswar for Yogananda, during that point in Yogananda’s astrology. It was a very specific armlet for a specific person at a specific time and for a specific karma. Sri Yukteswar left no calculations for creating this bangle or any other similar bangles, as far as we know. And Yogananda did not mention any specifics for that bangle’s construction, as far as we know.

If you are needing a remedy for a similar situation, please consult a good Vedic astrologer to see if something may be calculated and then made for you. Go to top

What is a Navratna?An amulet of general usefulness but one that is too costly for the average person to buy, is the so-called Navratna or 9-stone bangle. It is composed of the following stones, each of them pure, un-flawed and greater than two carats: diamond, emerald, yellow sapphire, chrysoberyl cat’s eye, blue sapphire, garnet (or more properly gomed—a stone unknown in America) coral, pearl and ruby.

“Each of these stones stands for a different planet. Knowledge of one’s own horoscope and of the right stones to wear in order to strengthen weak planets and to offset the vibrations of the inauspicious planets is believed to be beneficial. If all you need personally is one or two stones, you may be able to afford such a bangle even if you are not rich. But you must convert your horoscope from the normal Western tropical to the sidereal and preferably to Indian sidereal, if you want to make proper use of the Indian science of gem therapy.”—Swami Kriyananda from The Art and Science of Raja Yoga.

Note: all stones used for the purpose of gem therapy should be set with open backs so that the stone or stones may touch the skin. It is through contact with the skin that the gemstones’ influence may come to benefit the person wearing them. Go to top

May I loan my bangle to a friend in need?There may come a time when a dear friend or relative without a bangle may go through a serious test. At this time, you may feel guided to loan your bangle to them during this period. Before loaning it out you may want to consider having it cleaned and annealed or possibly even blessed. When you get the bangle back, it would be a good idea to have it again cleaned and annealed and blessed. Go to top

Do you buy used bangles?Yes. We pay top dollar for used astrological bangles. If you are interested in selling one, contact us. Go to top

If you didn’t find what you were looking for here and would like to ask us directly, please use our contact form and we’ll be happy to assist you.Go to top

They are beautiful. I appreciate you and the service that you provide for devotees.

best wishes!

– Roy Davis

They are beautiful.

Happy New Year!!!

I just wanted to let Kent know how thrilled I am with my new bangle. I’ve already had what I’d call cleansing reactions and I’m feeling better. I feel so much better that I’m going to get one for my mother once I have the finances available.Excellent work.

It’s very sad and quite obvious that the bangle I purchased from x over 20 years ago was never right and never worked.

I just wanted to thank you so much for the beautiful, bright, shiny, restored bangle I received in the mail. I also appreciate the great deal you gave me on fixing it up. As a post-college student trying to find her way financially, it was much appreciated.

Blessings and light to you in all you do.
Mahalo,

– Rachel

Mahalo

Aloha Mr. White;

Thank you so much. I received the bangle and am so happy.
Thank you, thank you.

Warmest Aloha,

– Leah

Aloha

Hello Kent,

I love the bangle. I don’t even know that I have it on most of the time.
Thank you for a wonderful bangle.